Nuria, Juliette, Mafalda, Vera, … these are just a few of the women at Hinojosa who are integral to our company’s success. They, along with Hinojosa’s other female employees, serve as models for future professionals.
The industrial sector at large, and particularly the packaging and paper segment, is undergoing significant transformation. The disparity in male and female employment within the sector is progressively diminishing. Recent statistics reveal that 24.6% of professionals in the industrial sector are female.
Long-standing cultural and educational biases that have historically limited women’s participation in industrial companies and in the technical and engineering fields are gradually being overcome. Personal and professional excellence is unrelated to gender.
At Hinojosa we are committed to attracting top talent without excluding 50% of the population. To this end, we are highlighting the contribution of women across various roles, responsibility levels, and locations, acknowledging them as a key part of the gears that drive our company.
Alexandra González
Currently training in structural design, Alexandra González is an integral part of the Technical Office at Vegabaja Packaging. There, she makes sketches and samples before finalising orders.
She arrived at Hinojosa three years ago, but it is already clear to her how essential the sector where she works is and how important packaging is – beyond simply containing a product – as “it gives it identity and acts as a determining factor when deciding which product to buy”. She started at Vegabaja on an internship and, based on her own experience, she encourages young people to “absorb every bit of knowledge that this sector can give them”.
Isabel García
As Director of the Paper Division, Isabel has overseen the group’s three plants that produce this material since 2022. With over six years at Hinojosa, she has also been responsible for IT management, establishing the CSR division, and for overseeing quality and product stewardship in manufacturing.
For her, it is paramount that young women aspiring to work in the industrial sector “keep in mind that their personal and professional worth is the most crucial aspect”. She emphasises the significance of selecting a field that they are most passionate about because “when you enjoy your work, the limitations and barriers that society may want to impose diminish in significance”.
Nuria Bravo
A lifetime. That describes how long Nuria has been at Hinojosa. She commenced her career at the Alquería paper plant at twenty-one and, almost thirty years later, continues with the same zeal and commitment as in the beginning.
Her primary role involves analysing paper and water in the laboratory. Based on her wealth of experience, “she motivates young individuals to join a sector and company that is perpetually evolving”.
Vera País
She started at Graphicsleader as a production assistant and now, ten years later, with all the experience she has built up during this time, she can work as a stamping, window or die-cutting operator.
She believes that the sector can give young people the opportunity to “get out of their comfort zone and try new things” where mistakes are part of the learning process and colleagues are the ally to achieve all goals because, she emphasises, “professional success does not depend on us alone, but on the joint effort”.
Mafalda Ramos
Mafalda Ramos has been working as an offset printer since 2020, and has now been with Hinojosa Packaging Graphicsleader for eleven years. She recognises that it is a sector that is mainly occupied by men, but where women are well received and do not find it difficult to adapt.
She shares with the younger women who are thinking of entering the sector that “once you have your own space, nobody thinks of you as a man or a woman, there is no discrimination” and that the only thing that is measured is the ability to adapt to working with the machines.
Janette Gomes
“Starting a career in this sector offers a wide range of opportunities”, says Janette to encourage young women and adds, “it makes it possible to build a solid, long-term career”.
Janette has been working at our Portuguese Graphicsleader plant for 23 years and is delighted to know that the sector is breaking away from monotonous tasks every day, committing to sustainability and eco-friendly practices. Since 2019 she has been in the position of production manager. She hopes to continue facing the changes in this industry and improving its positive impact.
Francisca Moura
For Francisca it is very important that the packaging sector encompasses so many disciplines and involves so many people in its production process. In this way she has “significant contact with other professionals from different areas of the industry, making for enriched experiences due to having larger networks and developing critical thinking”.
Although she has only been working at Hinojosa Packaging Graphicsleader for two years and this is her first job, she has already seen that the sector “is known for creativity, innovation, functionality, regulatory compliance, environmental awareness and agility in responding to changing market demands”.
Her work focuses on improving the implementation of processes and machines so that they have an impact both on the product and on society.
Carine Brégère
Carine has been working in the purchasing department of Allard Emballages Brive since 2021. The most important part of her job is listening to the coordinators’ needs and meeting their requirements.
For her, “the packaging industry means technology, progress, performance and innovation, while remaining environmentally friendly”. And, in parallel to this opinion, she encourages young women to start at Hinojosa so that, as it is clear from our stated purpose, they can continue adding value to what we carry inside us, where women and men “form a single group”.
Juliette Menu
“Although the sector is often perceived as a male-dominated field, the growing number of women working in it shows that we are making a place for ourselves”, says Juliette. She has been with Allard Emballages Compiègne since 2015, now as head of planning, and she knows that the number of women at Hinojosa is growing every day.
Probably due to the “good collaborative atmosphere in the plant, where everyone can express themselves freely to improve their work”.
Oumaima Dubois
For a year and a half, Oumaima has been carrying out all the analyses and maintenance at the water treatment plant at Hinojosa Paper Varennes. Her job consists of prevention and ensuring that all of the stages of water treatment – a very important process at Hinojosa – follow the regulations.
In her opinion, there are many possibilities and she tells younger women not to hesitate because “in the sector there is room for everyone, men and women alike”.
